BEREA -- Brandon Weeden, a bust in professional baseball, will start to run out of sports league that pay if he doesn't make it with the Browns this season.

Weeden turns 30 in October, and as everyone reading this knows by now, he has to impress a new front office and a new set of coaches because the group that made him a first-round draft choice last year is history.

The triumvirate of CEO Joe Banner, General Manager Mike Lombardi and head coach Rob Chudzinski owes Weeden nothing. They already signed Jason Campbell in free agency. They could surprise by taking a quarterback with the sixth pick in the draft next week if they conclude Weeden isn't the answer.

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"I think this is probably the biggest time of my entire career, just because the rookie year is tough," Weeden said Tuesday after the first day of a three-day minicamp. "Going in to year two, you've got to show you can play. You've got to show you can make adjustments, and grow from year one."

Everybody is positive and happy in minicamp. There is no contact, no sacking the quarterback, so conditions are artificial, but Weeden threw the ball well and accurately in the portion of practice open to the media.

Coach Rob Chudzinski danced around the question when asked if the vertical offense the Browns will use this year fits Weeden better than the West Coast offense used last year under Pat Shurmur.

Whether to blame Weeden's struggles in 2012 on the fact he was a rookie or he didn't fit the offense is a debate with no answer, but the fact is Weeden was 5-10, ranked 29th among starting quarterbacks and completed only 57.4 percent of his passes. He completed 69.5 percent (767 for 1,103) of his passes at Oklahoma State.

"I've watched every game from last year and there are a few things fundamentally (I can do better)," Weeden said. "One, I'm trying to eliminate the pat of the ball. That throws off my timing. That will make you a lot less accurate, so that's one thing I'll really spend a lot of time on.

"Also speeding up my feet. That's been their focus since day one. They want to speed my feet up, eliminate the pat, and just get the ball out of my hand. And until you do a couple of those things, get your body in the right position, that leads to better accuracy, which there was times last year that I missed throws that I've never missed. If I can take care of a few things fundamentally, I think those things will hopefully resolve themselves."

Weeden worked with the first offense Tuesday. Chudzinski said Campbell will work with the first offense at some point, but for now the plan is for Weeden to begin training camp as the starter.

"You see a young guy who has some tools," Chudzinski said. "He has a good arm and has the ability to get the ball down the field. We look and project that into the things we are going to try to do and obviously teach him.

"You're looking for progress from a guy who was a rookie and showed progress during his rookie season. You want to see him take the next step to his second year. Hopefully, he will do that and we have to teach him a new offense in the meantime."

Pinkston cleared

Guard Jason Pinkston has been cleared to practice after missing most of last season with a blood clot in his lung.

"Good news for Jason, -- we've cleared him," Chudzinski said. "We'll incrementally get him going back to where he can get on the field and start practicing again. That'll take a little bit of time to do that."

Pinkston and wide receiver David Nelson missed practice Tuesday. Nelson is rehabbing from surgery after suffering a knee injury in the season opener with the Bills. Chudzinski expects the wide receiver to be ready for the opener.